Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles gets a lot of flak from both sides. The extreme liberals accuse him of covering up sexual abuse by refusing to permit prosecutors to have full access to priest personnel records. The extreme conservatives accuse him of having a "homosexual agenda" (a codeword for anything that is not extremely conservative). They also complain that he does not speak loudly enough against abortion - which, in their minds, makes him pro-abortion.

The fact of the matter is that Mahony is a moderate, trying to serve everyone he's supposed to be serving. He's not really a dynamic personality, but he's a good man who tries to deal with things rationally. There's no way he can satisfy the people at the extremes. Instead of bowing to the angry extremists like many bishops do, Mahony largely ignores them.

I go to the annual Los Angeles Religious Education Congress that Mahony sponsors, and it's a wonderful event - the largest annual gathering of Catholics in the US, with 40,000 people attending. The Congress draws the best Catholic speakers in the country, and the liturgical celebrations are festivals of song and dance (even though Rome thinks dance is not part of US culture and shouldn't be part of liturgy).

I knew Mahony had dedicated a chapel to the victims of abuse, but I haven't heard any comments reacting to the gesture. It's true that no apology or financial settlement or legal action can make up for the terrible wrong that has been done, but I think that Mahony and many other bishops have done what they can. Others act like callous business executives and listen to their lawyers more than to the tenets of their faith.

Benedict has frequently spoken out against priest sexual abuse since shortly after he was elected Pope. John Paul II didn't. I don't think he was callous - he was simply blind. Having been brought up to believe the Church was the infallible opponent to fascism and communism, he just didn't seem to be able to accept the fact that some aspects of his Church are deeply flawed. Benedict seems to have a far more realistic view.

-Joe-